Members of the recently formed and successful Marlborough Boxing Club are celebrating winning the first round of their contest to get their own premises. The club’s young fighters, who have notched up a string of successes all over the south are training in a tiny room behind the Queen’s Head in St Martins, run by former champion Andy Nash. Mr Nash and Darren Newman, a local boxer, have set up the club to give young men a healthy alternative to hanging around the streets and in car parks. On Monday Marlborough Town Council agreed in principle to the club taking over and restoring the disused pavilion in Elcot Lane for its HQ and gym. The pavilion was built when the Elcot Lane meadow belonged to the former grammar school and was used for sports including cricket and tennis. It was later used by Marlborough Rugby Club and for a brief period as changing rooms for youth football teams. A survey showed the building is structurally sound and the boxing club has given the town council a schedule of work it intends to do to make it usable. On Monday Mr Nash told the town council’s property committee that the boxing club was proposing to keep costs to a minimum by using its members to carry out most of the refurbishment. “A lot of boxers are tradesmen so we will be doing all the work ourselves,” Mr Nash told councillors. They agreed to grant the club a 25-year lease at the peppercorn rent of £1 a year for the first five years. Mr Nash told councillors that a 25-year lease was the minimum the club needed to qualify for Sports Council and other grants. He said the club was also looking into the possibility of registering as a charity.